The Invitation to Every Sort of Evil
For wherever there is jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry and selfish ambition), there will also be confusion (unrest, disharmony, rebellion) and all sorts of evil and vile practices. Amplified Bible
The source for the release of evil in our lives and in the lives of others (that can still affect us), is jealousy and contention. When someone yields to the venal attributes of jealousy or anger, they have opened the door to every kind of unrest and evil that can be poured out. They have given an invitation to the devil to come in with his chaos. When someone is contentious, they themselves are not evil, but they are in reality being used by the devil or his hoard to unleash disharmony and all sorts of evil.
We each need to be introspective and let the Holy Spirit show us if we are yielding to these emotions and opening the door for every kind of unrest in our lives. If you would say that you always seem to be surrounded by confusion, disharmony and every kind of evil, then perhaps you should ask the Lord to reveal to you any areas of you live that you may operating in Jealousy or contention. If I am surrounded by the things that can only come from envy and contention, I may be opening the wrong doors in my life.
This is something that we need to be in prayer about and on the lookout for, not just in others (which is easy to do) but within ourselves (which requires an open honest heart). We are all flesh and we all can easily feel the stirrings of anger towards people that do us wrong (I am surprised how easily those feeling are aroused), but we have to recall that whomever those people may be, they are not the problem and it is not to them that we need to respond spiritual (although perhaps in the natural with teaching love). They have allowed themselves to be used by the enemy and we need to stand against that spirit in them.
Giving ourselves over to anger and envy is easy to do. If we are not cautious and alert we just slip right into it. It can happen almost unnoticed and then it builds upon itself. Once this evil is introduced by someone and their anger, the response always tends to be a response in kind. Perhaps not even directly to that specific person, it could just be anger and frustration vented in private because of someone else’s behavior. Even if I give myself to anger in private, it still opens the door every kind of evil and disharmony. Lord, help us remember that envy and contention brings every kind of evil into my life and the lives of those around me.
J Todd Hostetler